News

DreamHon: Never give up, in oh so many ways - Week 5 Recap

Another successful week of competition is in the books as only three teams remain undefeated. ClanMilk, compLexity Gaming and Vitriolic haven't lost one game yet, which puts them into a favorable spot to reach the playoffs next week. A guaranteed playoff spot is still missing, but enough with the future, let's focus on the great plays of last week.

The implications and excitement for this match were tremendous as the match would decide the second playoff candidate of Group B. With compLexity marching straight ahead, both FiT and It's Gosu were in dire need of a successful ending to this match, which became a hard-fought, tough and intense match.

The first map started of pretty decent for It's Gosu, who could not only pick up the Firstblood, but also the next three kills as well, putting them into a 4-0 lead early. Magebane on a Tri-Lane and Moraxus in the Middle lane did a good job, only Bubbles was the sacrificial lamb on the bottom lane against Draconis. That dragon had basically free-farm throughout the first part of the game, which not only boosted him into a beefy monster, but also took Bubbles out of the game entirely. Gank attempts to keep Draconis in check failed, because of good reaction on FiT's side. So FiT got a better grip of the match and Draconis playedgreat support with a stacked jungle. No one could contest with Draconis, who even had the support of Empath in the team fights, elevating him to new heights. Annihilation and game for FiT, who forced a blind ban on Draconis for the rest of the series.

So the pressure was on TiG, who could have kissed their playoff chances goodbye with a loss to FiT. The response was a very agressive lineup that piled the pressure onto towers early. Despite the fact that ChubbyChris and mmbzai wiffed their great teamfight ultis a couple of times in the early phase, TiG were able to pull ahead. After grouping up they decided to push the bottom lane with determination. That very push resulted in tower kills and after a successful team fight even in a Melee Baracks kill just 16 minutes into the match. Farm and experience was on TiG's side and they kept the pressure high all the time. Even though FiT could win one or two engagements, TiG stayed in the lead throughout, pushing the top lane next. Good engagements by Magmus, Tempest of just the pure damage of Tremble and Forsaken Archer were enough to win the deciding teamfight, pushing this game into the ace match.

That ace match looked a lot like the second map in the early phase. TiG took out a couple of towers pretty early on, which gave them a solid 9k gold lead very early in the game. Khezu on Forsaken Archer got great farm and FiT couldn't really response to anything TiG put in front of them. ArchiTiger on Behemoth made a couple of good stuns which initiated some nice catches, but in the end a 10/0 Archer backed up by the good engagements of Moraxus were enough to push FiT over the edge.

Teams of the Week

Pikachu

Drafter

Carry

Suicide

Support

Support

GoRdoB

Streufutter

Buch

TPSPriceless

Tankafett

Team Pikachu did it, they dethroned Orange eSports for the very first time in the group stage. After quite some controversy regarding the "ringer affair" in the game against Lions eSports, Pika stayed on top of their game, tearing through opponents left and right. The last match was just prove of the capability that this team posesses. Being the first team that wins a game against the undefeated Malaysian powerhouse Orange eSports. Doing it in a crystal clear way with a 2-0 victory. Doing it to cement the own status of a playoff contender. All of that was more than impressive and brought Pika to where they are now, in a very comfortable spot heading into the last two weeks. One win away from reaching that playoff ticket, one more win away from clinching the postseason and one more win away from the "top eight" status of the current HoN scene.

It's Gosu

Drafter

Carry

Suicide

Support/Jungle

Carry

iNsania

Khezu

mmbzai

Sender

ChubbyChris2

It's Gosu has made a huge leap, last week, with the victory over FiT. That victory is not only putting them into a very good spot over FiT on advancing to the playoffs, but it also underlines the recent trend of the team. Ever since that opening lost to coL, the team has looked very impressive and focus on the tasks ahead. The morale this team showed was absolutely brilliant, getting up after being punched down. The opener against compLexity was as clean of a loss as can be, but they came back again with an impressive winning streak. The first map against FiT was devastating, because of a good early that turned into a completely one-sided match in favor of FiT, but they jumped back to their feet and retaliated with a push-strategy next game, ultimately taking the series home.

compLexity Gaming

Drafter

Carry

Allrounder

Support

Support/Jungle

Bkid

Haxxeren

Moonmeander

Franzii

Chessie

coL hasn't played a great series this week, they haven't played great opponents the last couple of weeks, so why are they in as the team of the week? They are on top of Group B, they have not lost a single map, they are one game away from clinching their group and they haven't looked bad once. No other team has walked through the tournament in a more dominant, more impressive fashion then the North Americans. They just steamrolled every opponent so far, including It's Gosu in Week 1. Now FiT is waiting for coL, who look as sharp as you can look these days with a team, fans and their plays backing them up. Can they go flawless for the rest of the tournament?

Other great teams:

saishii : Nobody took notice of this team after the devastating 0-2 start into the group stage, but the North Americans have recovered. They completed a three game winning streak last week with a dominant victory over Dynasty, which held them in contention for the playoff race. The chances for that spot is not high, but saishii is still going out with a high note.

Individual Awards

Individual Award recipient

Kallbergz

CallItKarma

6/5/13

Every step you take, I'll be watching you!

Yes, Kallbergz is a support player, but his performance on the first map was a pleasure to watch. Not only did he kept Cats Gaming in the dark while granting his team some vision, but he was also responsible for some great initiations. Focussing on his wards though, they were great all game. He provided vision in the opponents jungle, he kept Cats Gaming's vision very low and he set up some very nice moves in the game. His wards got zHHH caught doing the ancient, his wards guaranteed two uncontested Kongor kills, his wards countered ganks. He "eyed" for the MVP award here.

Individual Awards

Individual Award recipient

Zetpro

Vitriolic

10/1/16

Get of my la(w)ne

Every time you can not only have an impact in the first map, but your performance echoes throughout the series, you did something incredibly right. Zetpro not only crushed RageHissyFit on his Suicide lane in the first map, but he also forced Team GA to a unfavorable lane in the third game to prevent this from happening again. Zetpro took Aluna completely out of the match, got great farm and then roamed around giving his team the ganking presence to pull out the victory. Then again he stood against Pebbles/Aluna on the third map with Tundra, not winning the lane, but performing really well, keeping everyone's farm in check.

Individual Awards

Individual Award recipient

Fly

fnatic

10/2/15

The Captain leads by example

Usually Fly was always overshadowed by the great names in his own team. Names like Freshpro, N0tail, Trixi, H4nn1 or Era would always draw more attention, with Fly orchestrating everything in the background. In the recent slump of fnatic, Fly has emerged as a dominant player once again, carrying his team to victory. The first map against iLight was a great example of that. Not only did he win his middle lane clearly, but he then applied pressure to every single hero of the opposing team. He initiated ganks and he was the tanking presence in team fights. He also carried his team on the second map, dominating the middle lane with Monkey King, finishing the game with a triple kill and 16/2/8.

TheJellyfish - KallItKarma : Hammerstorm twice, Dominance twice. TheJellyfish did a fantastic job on Map 1 and 3 with his hammerthrower. He held the opposing carry in check, he initiated teamfights, he applied crushing ganks and later on his swings got pretty crushing aswell.

Honorary Award

Eliminated teams, continuing to play

Dynasty

QsQ 112

Cats

GA

unZ

fnatic

QsQ 613

SdS

240B

C1K

A couple of weeks ago the Admins of the tournament became the Honorary Award winner for their judgement regarding forfeit victories and teams forfeiting their matches. This falls into the same category as we progress with the event. Some teams are already out of the playoff race, but they keep the integrity of the tournament alive by playing it out. It's a great show of respect and sportsmanship if you show up every single week to play, not give away any free wins - you can even change the tournament. Best example for this is Dynasty, who are out of the playoff race, but almost decided Group B yesterday, as they pushed FiT all three maps. They didn't got the upset, but they took one map from FiT after all.